Leave it to Don May, Jr. and his DVD company, Synapse Films, to
ruin my day. I get a package in the mail and I open it up - its
a DVD from Don. I look at the cover and all I see are pictures of
bleeding Japanese people. Mounds of them, with guts hanging out,
veins popping out all over the place and a picture on the back
(small enough so that you cant quite make it out) of a guy
humping a woman with her middle portions torn out. Hey Don? I think
I know why you cant get your stuff into Blockbuster. Just in
case you didnt get the gist from the cover, theres a
teeny, tiny warning blurb on the back. It reads: "Organ
contains scenes of graphic violence and strong sexual content.
Recommended for mature audiences only." Do any of you really
think a "mature" person would have a real need for this
film? I for one hope not, because it ruins all the fun for the rest
of us. But just in case youre a parent and your child comes
running up to you at the store carrying this disc, you've been
warned.

So, Im repulsed by what has to be the singularly most
disgusting jacket art ever created for DVD. What do I think about
the movie contained therein? I'm still not sure, but I'll give it my
best shot to describe my feelings here.

Numata and Tosaka are cops, on the hunt for a Yakuza-backed organ
farm. They get a good lead when a young biker is beat into a coma
and the baddies come to get him. Once they follow the pick-up car to
the makeshift operating room, Numata (a lone wolf cop to the Nth
degree) jumps his partner and knocks him out of the equation, then
helps the bad guys bring the young kid in so he can infiltrate the
place. Once in, he has to pass himself off and one of them. Yoko,
the one-eyed female enforcer of the group (played by director Kei
Fujiwara) gets on the horn and finds out he aint the real
deal. Meanwhile, Tosaka is coming to, finds a key to the handcuffs
Numata slapped on him and goes after him, kicking in the door and
screwing up Numatas plans. All hell breaks loose, and Tosaka
has his arms and legs hacked half-off and collapses onto the floor.
The place goes up in flames and Numata high-tails it out only to
find himself shamed off the force.

Days later, Numata is half the man he was before. He goes back to
the scene of the crime and bumps into Tosakas twin brother,
Shinji. Shinji has the feeling that his brother is still alive, and
he and Numata each go their separate way trying to find out where
Tosaka is and whats become of him. Whats become of
Tosaka, is that hes now addicted to some new drug developed by
Jun, a biology teacher whos also experimenting with human
bodies. He has Tosaka living in a bed of ferns in his closet,
looking like some sort of a mutant Chiapet, his arms and legs now
fully amputated. Jun also has a schoolgirl murder racket going,
where he kills girls from his classes and feeds the blood to Tosaka
for some odd reason. Oh... and Jun has a gaping infected wound on
his stomach that squirts puss when hes excited. Where is all
this going? Well... its very hard to figure out most of the
film. But stick with it. You may never figure it out, but for some
odd reason, its very compelling, entertaining stuff.

Organ is a pretty wet film,
and that just goes to show that theres truth in advertising.
Fujiwara has worked with Shinya Tsukamoto in the past (most notably
in his Kaiju Theater company and the film Tetsuo:
The Iron Man), and carries on his tradition of
disrespecting the human body. Call this film a salute to Tsukamoto
and David Cronenberg. If Cronenberg and Tsukamoto were to ever have
a child somehow (humor me here), Kei Fujiwara would be it. But that
said, as icky as the special effects are, they arent so
horrifying that youre going to have to divert your eyes. In
fact most are pretty cheesy. Still, when green shit shoots out of
someones chest, you cant help but put that BLT you were
eating back onto the plate and hit pause for a sec. I wish to go on
record and state that Don May, Jr. is a sick f**ker for putting this
out. God bless him, I hear that this film is flying off the shelves
and already out of print, so it must pay to be a sicko. Oh... and
for you readers in Europe, we just got word that the BBFC and
customs are wise to this title and have already banned it from being
imported. So good luck getting your hands on it.

So hows it look on DVD, this runny little thing? Pretty good
for a 16mm film blown up to 35. Theres grain, but theres
supposed to be grain. Fujiwara meant this film to be very organic
looking, and I have to say that this transfer pretty much captures
her vision quite well. Colors are good, and they'd better be
considering all the reds, greens and yellows on the screen. And as
grainy as it is, the film shows a nice thick contrast and great use
of blacks. No complaints from me. The audio is good as well. Its
a workable stereo mix that has a nice ambiance to it. You get sucked
in right from the start and it has a lot to do with the music. I
especially like the "wolves thing" going on towards the
end (and in the end credits). Whats that all about? I like it,
but its creepy as all get out. And props to whomever did the
English subtitles - they were spectacular.

Synapse threw in a few fine extras as well. Hidden on the disc
(under the Synapse logo) are a collection of trailers (okay, two)
from past releases: Brain Damage
and Vampyros Lesbos. Its
a nice effort. Youll also find a 22-minute look at the
follow-up feature from Kei Fujiwara, Organ:
Chapter 2. Theres no dialogue track, but there is a
funky music track and a hard-to-understand-everything voiceover from
Fujiwara herself. It looks just as freaky, and she warns that theres
grosser stuff than Organ in
the film, although shes not including it in this loop because
she needs to have her secrets. Shes a lady I would like to
party with.

Organ sure as hell isnt
for everyone out there. Im not even sure its for me. But
Bill pays me to watch movies, so I watch movies. I dont care,
as long as theyre on DVD. So if you want something nice, Organ
is now on DVD. The truth is, its a festering little boil of a
movie that you can practically smell through your TV. Its a
triumph in that respect. Whether thats a good thing or not, I
have no idea.